152 WIVES OF THE C/ESAKS. 



and disgrace. Exasperated and inconsolable, in the conflict of his 

 feelings, he addressed a letter to the senate, sufficiently expressive of 

 his grief and indignation, and specially detailing the offences of the 

 princess. When his anger had abated, his affection pleaded in her 

 favour ; he then deplored the impulse which had driven him to the 

 exposure of her crimes, and regretted, in the excess of his grief, the 

 absence of those wise and cautious counsels, which, in the life-time 

 of Agrippa and Mecaenus, would have pacified his irritation, and have 

 prudently concealed from public censure or derision, the debasement 

 of his lineage.* Julia's corruptors, or, to speak more properly, the 

 partners of her vice, were numerous, and of various degrees. The 

 list of them comprised the names of many of the most illustrious men of 

 Rome; Julius, or Julius Antony, the son of Antony the Triumvir and 

 Fulvia, Quinctius Crispinus, Appius Claudius, C. Sempronius Grac- 

 chus, and Scipio, by some supposed to be Scribonia's son, and conse- 

 quently uterine brother of the princess. Antony's offence was vi- 

 sited with death. Augustus had distinguished him by clemency, 

 and afterwards by favour. The consulate, the priesthood, and his 

 marriage with Marcella, Caesar's niece, were tokens of his love and 

 confidence, and as many damnatory proofs of Antony's ingratitude. 

 Sempronius Gracchus, a youth of ready genius, of insinuating 

 eloquence, and handsome person, had already carried his defilement 

 to Agrippa' s bed ; he had since extended his offences to Tiberius ; and 

 not content with the indulgence of his passion, had instigated Julia 

 to acts of insolence and hatred. The very letters written to Augustus 

 by his daughter letters teeming with reproaches of her husband, 

 were ascribed to this audacious paramour. Gracchus was accordingly 

 condemned to exile in the island of Cercinna, and after fourteen years 

 endurance, perished by the emissaries of Tiberius.f Appius Claudius, 

 Scipio, and Crispinus, who, according to Paterculus, concealed a 

 wicked spirit beneath a harsh and proud deportment, J shared the fate 

 of Antony and Gracchus. The contemporaries of Augustus, in des- 

 canting on the grounds of inculpation and the punishment of the 

 convicted parties, applaud his moderation and forbearance. Such 

 abandoned flattery was suited to the mean subservience of Paterculus, 

 the panegyrist of Tiberius and apologist of ^Elius Sejanus. Tacitus, 

 with a nobler and a wiser spirit, tries the conduct of Augustus by the 

 letter of the Roman jurisdiction. Servility alone could condescend 

 to eulogize a prince for clemency, in granting what is legally pre- 



* " Divus Augustus filiam intra pudicitise maledictum impudicam relegavit, 

 et flagitia principalis domus in publicum emisit ; admlssos gregatim adulteros, 

 pererratam nocturnis comessationihus civitatem, forum ipsum ac rostra, ex- 

 quibus pater legem de adulteriis tulerat, filiae in stupra placuisse, quotidianum 

 ad Marsyam concursum ; cum ex adultera in quaestuariam versa, jus omnis 15- 

 centiae sub ignoto adultero peteret. Haec tarn vindicanda Principi quam tacenda 

 (quia quarumdam rerum turpitude etiani ad vindicantem redit) parum potens 

 irae publicaverat. Deinde cum, interposito tempore, in locum irse subiisset ve- 

 recundia, gemens, quod non ilia silentio pressisset, quae tamdiu neseierat, donee 

 loqui turpe esset, saepe exclamavit : Horum mihi nihil accidisset, si aut Agrippa 

 aut Meccenas vixisset." Senec. 1. 6. tie Benefic. 



t Tacit. Ann. 1. 1. 



J " Quinctiusque Crispinus, singularem nequitiam supercilio truci protegens, 

 &c." Veil. Paterc. 1. 2. c. 100. 



